Khabib Says Ferguson had his Chance at the Title

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Posted by Charlene Adams on Mar 11, 2019 in General | Comments Off on Khabib Says Ferguson had his Chance at the Title

Recently stripped of his lightweight title to be rewarded to another interim fighter, Khabib Nurmagomedov says he doesn’t get when Ferguson is upset. After the brawl at UFC229, Khabib was suspended for attacking teammates of his opponent Conor McGregor. The UFC boss, Dana White told Khabib he wouldn’t be able to hold onto the title while he sits out with teammates who received 12-month suspensions for their part in the chaos. Instead of completely stripping him of the title, UFC will reward the title to the winner of a UFC 236 fight, taking place on the 13th of April 2019. The winner will hold onto the title until Khabib returns later on this year.

With the title on the line, most boxing fans expected Tony Ferguson and Max Holloway to step into the octagon to see who gets to claim it. However, to the surprise of most, Ferguson refused the fight as he feels his hard work and training deserves more than just an interim title. It’s suggested that Ferguson only wants a fight with Khabib once he returns. They can take it out in the octagon to see who the ultimate lightweight fighting champion is for good.

Khabib Says Tony had his Chance and Missed it

Khabib takes to popular social media platform Instagram to deliver his thoughts on the title fight. Beginning by stating that he cannot fight Tony due to the suspension. He goes on to explain that it’s unfair for the UFC to strip him of the title as he fought three times within just nine months to defend the title.

He also adds that he had three opportunities of his own to claim the title, but didn’t for various reasons. Including a fight in 2016 where a possible battle against Ramadan was offered, which he turned down. The second opportunity was at UFC 205 in New York where he signed, but the title was given away. Finally, the third time, was at UFC 209 when he was taken to the hospital and almost died.

Finally, the Instagram message ended with Khabib explain that Tony is a great fighter and that he certainly deserves a title, but with the way things are now with him being disqualified, Tony would either need to wait for the fight or he would need to get in the fight now and claim the interim title. He also adds that the fight against him is unlikely since the UFC doesn’t want it.

If Tony waits for Khabib’s disqualification to be over, he would need to wait until the end of the year before the fight would be possible. The only problem would the winner of the interim battle for the title as they would need to take on Khabib to determine who would keep it. Therefore, Khabib would need to win, and then Tony can line up for the fight against Khabib.